The Path to Hell is Paved With Yellow Bricks
by FluffyGlitterPantsDragon
Summary: Lucifer visits humanity often since its creation by Dad - on vacation, just out of curiosity, and every single time he does, Amenadiel comes to send him back to Hell. Every single time, Lucifer isn't keen on going back. He witnesses and/or participates in a few important historical events, causes others but also gets blamed for a ton of death and destruction that isn't his fault.
1. Chapter 1

Sodom x Gomorrah - Approx. 2300 B.C. Canaan

Gabriel glared at Lucifer. "What are you doing?"

Lucifer, having recently smoked enough opium to stun an ox, blinked up at his brother. He hadn't seen anyone from the Silver City other than Amenadiel in a good long while, but the invisible angelic aura surrounding him was unmistakable. Gabe, sandy-haired and clean-shaven, stood over him, looming in the robes of his station - felted wool gauntlets dyed blue with pale blue underskirts and tan and blue outer robes. He wore a double chained gold necklace that was longer and thinner than Amenadiel's, mostly hidden under his garments. Lucifer recalled there being some sort of pendant, but it wasn't visible now.

Lucifer had always hated the utterly unchanging style of the clothing. He'd had a necklace too, each of the archangels were given one, of a slightly different style. It had been stripped away from him with everything else. He thumbed his ring absently. If anyone ever accused him of using it as a substitute for the polished black necklace, he'd deny it to his bones. His clothing - his only clothing in Heaven was a set of silver and black robes, the cut exactly the same as everyone else's. Boring.

Nothing ever changed in the Silver City unless it had to. So pretty much never. Even less so now that he was gone.

As they stared at one another, It occurred to him belatedly that a question had been asked of him. He fought to dredge it up, running fingers through his dishevelled hair. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

The face twisted. "It looks like you're just waking up after passing out in a pile of humans, mid-coitus."

"Then that sounds about right." Lucifer looked down his chest, taking note of the naked woman curled up with her face against his abs and one elbow jammed into his ribs that probably would hurt anyone mortal. On him, it was just dull pressure indenting his side. Her dark hair spilled over his hips and waist. He honestly had no idea if she was one of the prostitutes or one of the party-goers. He didn't really see a good reason to get up and entertain visiting angels, except that some of his limbs felt like they were asleep to the point of numbness. "What are you doing here? Doesn't seem like your kind of scene, brother."

Gabe sighed and offered his hand as if it were some sort of magnificently charitable act on his part. Lucifer rolled his eyes and accepted, gently moving the woman off of him with the other hand. She grumbled, but snuggled up to another woman at his side and went back to sleep. His brother averted his eyes as if burned, but Lucifer had no shame. Never had. Coming to his feet, he had to yank his wings out from under a few humans, fluffing them with a quick check for random fluids or debris. There was more dirt on them than anything else. The only real reason to keep them clean was his relative comfort. A grain of sand caught between feather shafts was just as irritating as one rolling between toes, even if it wasn't necessarily _painful_.

His brother huffed a sigh, not yet out of accusatory looks and not likely to run out any time soon. "How can you let yourself get into this state, Samael?"

"Don't call me that. I assure you, 'letting' wasn't a factor at all. I had to work pretty diligently to acquire enough opium to get me even _this _far. Are you on babysitting duty this time? Amenadiel has better things to do, has he?"

"No. I'm carrying a message. I sensed you here so I thought I'd see what kind of trouble you've been getting into."

"Trouble was getting into _me _too."

Gabriel didn't take the bait. "You should go back to your domain. You won't want to get caught in the coming calamity."

Lucifer rolled his eyes. "What is it this time? Floods? Plagues? Insects? What's Mother up to?"

"I wasn't told. Something is coming, but I don't know what. I need to find the human or humans in charge of this city. Mother...may face consequences."

"I was mostly joking."

"I'm not. Do you know where to go or not, Samael?" Gabe fluffed his dove-grey and darker-grey-spotted wings.

"Fine. Yes. The man is named Lot. Boring name, but beggars and choosers."

"Changing your name doesn't make you less your Father's son." Gabe gritted his teeth, "_Lucifer._"

"You think _I_ picked it? Who told you that? In any case, I do prefer it over the name I was stripped of when I was cast out. Sounds like Father's hands free parenting continues on to this day."

Gabe glared icily.

"Fine. Follow me. Watch out for these humans. They get grabby for divinity. Especially for my divine-"

"Please don't finish that sentence."

Lucifer quickly washed his face and dressed in local garb while his brother shifted impatiently. They left the house - it was mid-evening now - the party had gone on all night and for almost another full day. It was a miracle (hah) they only just ran out of wine and other mind-altering substances.

The population had seen Lucifer a few times already and the supernatural was 'known' well enough that the sight of people with (feather) wings wasn't all that alarming. He didn't call himself an angel, of course, but the wings made everything he wanted easier to find. He didn't know why he'd been left with the wings - why they didn't have the scarred, scarlet aspect the rest of his body took on, why he even still had an angelic appearance to call on at all.

If it was an oversight on his Father's part, he wasn't about to bring it up to anyone.

If Dad truly never wanted him to leave Hell, He wouldn't have left the option. Walking around in red skin all the time would make that impossible anywhere with people. Which there were a lot more of these days, more than even his siblings thought there would eventually ever be.

They never thought the humans would outnumber the angels. What other predictions of Lucifer's, once scoffed at, would now come to pass?

It was a bitter victory, however, and it changed nothing.

He shook his wings out and flicked them away for the walk. Gabriel felt no particular need to furl his. Where Lucifer's aura screamed 'availability', Gabriel's stated that he was on a mission. The few people out of doors gave them a wide berth, watching curiously. Most bowed their faces to the ground as they passed.

Just because they'd seen angels didn't mean they didn't know what they were supposed to do around the _holy_.

Well, when what they thought was the holy wasn't on his back, he supposed, amused. It was a different kind of subservience, one he returned gladly.

Lucifer hated this abashment of themselves, as if they were worthy of abject worship. He wanted to pull the people up off their knees, but his brother urged him to keep moving, paying them no mind.

The late hour meant most people were already home. There were no outdoor lanterns. Except for the occasional firelight peeking out through the cracks of a door or an occasional window, the evening shadows swallowed everything. The full moon reflected light down on them, lighting occasional groups of men standing around and talking. One or two pointed at them, eyes lingering on the wings and tall bodies. The street itself, only wide enough for a fat horse or pair of donkeys, wove between homes, meandering with the natural rise of the ground. A pair of dogs, dirty and rough-coated ran past them, bounding and playing.

A child saw them and bolted off between buildings, yelling.

Lucifer couldn't say he felt any sympathy for the Goddess. If she was finally getting her due, he couldn't be bothered to care about what happened to her. Still, "What makes this time different?"

"Hmm?"

"Mother has been killing off humans for years. What's another plague?"

For a moment, he didn't think Gabe was going to answer the question. He finally glanced back past his wing for a moment then addressed his guide. "It's not a plague. Plagues rarely wipe out every human it comes into contact with. This will not leave any survivors in the city."

His feet missed a step. "What? Hold on, why aren't you telling these poor fools as we pass to get out then?"

"Because my message is not for them. Time is of the essence, and stopping for every individual here will delay my informing the one who will be able to direct them out safely. Should he choose to do so."

"Should he? You're making less sense than I remember, brother."

"I may only deliver my words to the one intended. What he does with it is up to him."

Lucifer glanced back, hearing murmurs of people. They had more than a few stragglers behind them now, with wide eyes. They were full of a hunger he well-recognized. He picked up the pace and knocked on Lot's door a few minutes later.

They were finishing an evening meal, his younger daughter cleaning up scraps to feed some animal behind the dwelling. A goat bleated at the back door, confirming it. The young woman and her sister, both almost old enough to marry, watched their father usher in the tall, handsome man and the other one, who got stuck in the door before growling and whisking away his wings for ease of mobility.

Lot's wife bowed and offered them wine, which Lucifer accepted.

Gabriel addressed Lot, informing him he and his family needed to leave the village. "Your God sent me to warn you and your family to leave. Tonight."

Lucifers attempts to flirt with Lot's wife were immediately diverted. "Tonight?"

His brother ignored him. "Gather only what you can carry. There's not much time."

A rap sounded sharply on the door, "Who're the new fellows, Lot?" "I know one of 'em, my wife knows 'em too." "Why are they here?" "Are they both angels?"

Their host directed his family to pack some things, ignoring the growing crowd shuffling outside his door. Lucifer addressed Gabe angrily, "Told you to put away your wings. These humans are going to have a difficult time getting out through that rowdy bunch. They'll probably follow us and them all the way to the edge of-", He stopped himself. "Oh."

Gabe arched an eyebrow. "My orders were to deliver a message to one man. I have done nothing more than that."

"Right, of course not."

"I needed you to help me find this man quickly, of course."

"Surely." Lucifer breathed out a rough breath. Maybe all his siblings weren't just feathered idiots. "Still, it does seem like half the town is outside his door? Getting through them will be an effort."

A male voice carried through the thin wood, "We want to meet the angels too. It's good luck to touch an angel's wings, you know."

Lot huffed and stopped long enough to yell out the window, "They're under my roof and my domain. Go home!"

Lucifer looked out the back door past the goat. Most of the hangers-on seemed focused on the front door. "We may need a distraction to get clear. If you really want to save your townsfolk, I can lead some of them away. I'll go out there."

"Don't be ridiculous. They'll...forgive me, you're closer to God than I, I imagine you must be innocent of the more vulgar desires of my neighbors."

"Oh, not at all. Very much the opposite, actually. I mean, Gabe here is probably still a virgin and will be until Judgement Day - if that's still a thing, that is. Regardless, they cannot touch me without my permission, or at minimum, suffer severe repercussions if they do."

"Perhaps I should go calm them down."

Gabriel shook his head. "I'm sorry, there's no time. The best you can do at this point is get you and your family out."

Lucifer threw back the rest of his wine. "Maybe this one will be like Noah. Dad told him there would be a massive flood but really it was more like an out of region monsoon."

His brother definitely winced. "Who told you about that?"

"Dozens of poor saps who got left out in the rain, naturally." Lucifer waited patiently for Gabe to make the connection. "Honestly, were you completely drunk when you went to Noah with a message from Dad, or just temporarily off your rocker?"

"Noah took from the message what he wanted to hear. He did save some people in the process, and most of the local farm animals. Beyond that, he...lied about what was in the message itself. Father is debating on ceasing delivering messages altogether." He clamped his jaw tightly, as if already regretting letting that slip.

Well then. He had something new to ask Amenadiel the next time he turned up. "I guess it's good to know Dad never meant to drown the planet. Though many, many souls down in Hell certainly believed otherwise, once the rains came anyway."

Lot approached them with a packed sack over his shoulder, shifting and nervous. "We're ready to go," he chewed his lower lip a second, then shouted to the crowded outside, "wait a moment longer and I'll send my daughters out instead!"

The mob rumbled in response, one voice near the front coming out clear, "what about the angels?"

Both Gabe and Lucifer regarded Lot darkly. The man shrugged, "Just a distraction to keep them at the front door until we get away safely. They'll stay with us. The townsfolk can be rough when riled up, but they're not really bad people. Not all of them."

His wife looked out the back, ducking back inside quickly "They're starting to come 'round."

Lucifer tilted his head. "I don't understand. A collection of humans take leave of their senses where one would not?"

Lot licked his teeth. "Frequently. I'm not saying it's _forgivable_, exactly, but there are very likely to be several men out there mixed in that I would hate to leave behind to die."

"And you believe it's worth saving all of them for the sake of the few you know?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well, perhaps your desires will lead to fewer souls in Hell. I suppose I can hope for that."

It was Gabe's turn to give Lucifer a double-take. "You dislike ruling Hell?"

"Of course I do! It's nothing but screaming and burning flesh, all the time. I found at least one capable demon who is helping me devise more creative means of punishment, but it's not my ideal way to pass the time."

Lot went silent, jaw dropping slack.

Lucifer waved him off, "Oh relax. I was once an angel too. The crowd outside isn't wrong about that. If it helps, plus you see my brother right here, dragging me into this mess. I'd prefer it if humans would stop darkening my door completely. You said you're ready to go?"

The man said nothing further during the trip out. Gabe unfurled his wings once the family was out of the house and headed for the edge of town. The crowd saw the angels and started following in the direction the pair began to lead them.

They cut it too close. Fire started raining from the sky, caving in buildings around them as glowing rocks dropped down like so much deadly hail. Instead of continuing to follow the two Celestials to safety, the people began to scatter like chickens, or dashing to their homes for their belongings, trampling each other in their growing panic.

Gabriel sighed heavily and teleported them both to a hill outside the town when it became clear that no one was sticking with them. From up there, they could see smoke reaching up to the sky, first in small streams and spreading out thickly as roofs caught fire. Larger rocks began to fall then, some in a more scattered pattern that stretched all the way to three more towns inside the fiery radius. The lines of fire were visible for miles in the pitch black night.

Off in the distance, they saw three figures escaping the edge of habitation. He didn't see the wife. "What happened?"

Gabriel looked sad. "She must have been hit by a meteor. The fires haven't spread far enough to endanger them directly at this point. Hopefully she died instantly."

They watched as a few more people got clear of the buildings, but it was terribly disorganized and most were spaced out randomly, despairingly watching fire from the heavens consume everything they didn't take with them which was still damn near everything. Before long, ash began to fall around them, reminding him of Hell. He hissed at the sky. "Mother did this? Why?"

"She and Father - I best not speak of it. However, you may be able to ask her yourself when you return to Hell."

"You can't be serious."

"The rumors seemed...likely. This time."

The few, ragged survivors began to meander, finding each other. More than a few heads bowed together against the overly bright fires. The rocks falling from orbit must have contained minerals that burned more brightly than an average fire, hotter and leaping fast from roof to roof, consuming the entire town in minutes.

They kept watch for a long time, silently. When Amenadiel finally came, he didn't offer more than token resistance to being forced back. He wanted to know if it was true, if Mother was there now. He didn't want to know badly enough to go back before he had to, however.

The falling ash from the fire vanished, replaced by the fine flakes of Hell.

It seemed to welcome him back, as it always had.

As the City once had.

Lucifer always made a point to walk back to his chambers, from the definitely not-pearly gates. Not far behind him were a fair number of dearly departed, arriving each moment - a husband and wife together, momentarily relieved, then the panic set it with the realization.

He hated this part. All the parts, really.

It was hard to say if they came from where he just was, or something unrelated. There were enough humans now that the line was fairly consistently always _there._

One or two new arrivals watched him stride through the gates, straightening his garb and walking right in like he owned this place. Which he did.

This time he took the long way back.

He knew where every soul in Hell was. He found where his Mother had been housed, probably directly, deposited by one of his brothers or sisters, rudely skipping the usual procedure.

It was just as well. It gave him the choice of visiting Her or not.

He paused. This cell had locks on it. No other door here had them. This was, as they say, a first.

In the wavering heat, he grew cold, his heart nearly stopping.

Was it a trap, set for him?

_No. It can't be. _They would just stuff him in there with Her, if it were. There was no need for subterfuge, and his Dad wasn't known for being subtle. Gabe couldn't have known that he would have sensed Mother's presence in Hell, immediately or eventually, could he? Was it something he ever complained or bragged to Amenadiel about? His older brother wasn't known to be a gossip, and he was fairly certain none of his family wanted to hear about the things he did on earth unless it was to mock him, even if Amenadiel swore no one did.

He didn't want their pity either. Mockery he could deal with.

Still, there was no good reason to chance opening the door, even for a peek. He would send Mazikeen down to see what She had to say, if anything. Ultimately, it wouldn't really matter if She did.

After all, no one was down here who didn't deserve to be, right?

He figured she was due as it were, between the plagues and other murderings of Dad's beloved creations. Lucifer knew He wouldn't turn a blind eye for Her forever, but he hadn't quite thought through what the result might be. He never thought he'd be standing outside Her door.

Lucifer shook his head, taking his hand from the chains, knocking off ash that had already begun to collect on them, despite the short amount time She'd been here. Time was tricky here though, something he hadn't been truly aware of until visiting earth a few times. Sometimes it was the same and sometimes it went faster or slower than time on earth, but he had yet to figure out why.

He had no idea if it was the same for Heaven.


	2. Rome - 260 BC

1- Rome - 260 b.c.

Lucifer looked up at the temple of Janus in the afternoon light. Golden rays touched warmly on the front face of the temple, adding orange hues to the white bricks and mortar.

Rome was unlike any human city he'd visited thus far. They'd grown so much in such a short time span, collecting into crowds of functional groups and becoming skilled and precise in their craftsmanship. Stone buildings with square corners and plumb lines framed well-maintained streets in all directions - homes, shops, temples and even buildings that housed options for entertainment. Money changers and lenders had developed into a profession. As he passed through the crowd, Lucifer palmed a shiny coin off a passerby to take it back with him to Hell.

This wasn't the first mortal city he'd laid eyes on, but it was the largest, most well put together hub since...well, best not dwell on that.

His flowing robes were that of a nobleman, perhaps to the casual observer he was an estate owner come in from the outskirts of the city to pay dues or shop for his house or make temple offerings. Lucifer avoided giving his name when acquiring local wear, but a little raw gold from his previous trips staved off awkward questions when he couldn't outright steal anything.

It didn't hurt that the nose on his face could mark him as born locally.

Even Amenadiel could get distracted by the cacophony of sights and smells. With a little added luck and some skill, Lucifer successfully dodged his brother and lost him, flowing easily into foot traffic, hunching a little so his black crown of hair wouldn't stick out above the throngs like a lighthouse signal for his angelic keeper. He wouldn't make _that_ mistake again. Once away, he drew a cloth over his head for further disguise.

He had stopped here, now, somehow arrested by the sight of the temple as the rest of the horde streamed by him. He usually avoided religious houses - but the humans here paid respects to many Gods, and only a few reminded him of his birthplace. _This_ set of deities generally took after particular angels and often himself, setting him to wonder if he wasn't the only otherworldly visitor as of late. Amenadiel would never go on his own, of course. Cassiel, perhaps. Gabriel, certainly. The thought made him pause, suddenly second-guessing his choice of destination, but he was here now and he wasn't about to waste his trip topside, or a good hiding place.

The temple of this two-faced God pulled at him. _Amy wouldn't think to look in here._ His brother will check the temples of the pleasure-seeking-and-providing gods first, or the houses of the nobles in the city.

Lucifer reluctantly passed his coin to the woman at the door for an offering, who thanked him with a nod and a smile. With a little luck and time, he could procure another to stuff in his secreted pouch of odd items to smuggle back. His prize possession this trip thus far was a written slip of a scroll, nipped off a message runner. He hadn't read it yet, but hopefully, it wasn't _too_ important to the addressee.

He paused as he stepped inside, having just come through open double-doors to face another open archway at the far end of the structure. The two sets of doors appeared identical, huge metal gates thrown wide open and welcoming. He looked around curiously but most of the people in the crowd seemed preoccupied and didn't examine his new presence closely. It seemed to be a festival day of some sort.

Twelve alters stood spaced around a statue of Janus himself. Most held small, humble offerings of wheat cakes and salt. He couldn't help but be struck by the twin faces of Janus, facing to look in all directions but not at himself - perhaps the God was based on himself and Michael, though Janus was one God, not twin angels. Janus, seeing all but going nowhere. Perhaps more like his Father than he, then.

He had long stopped wondering what his Father thought of his humans not only creating many other gods but worshipping them as well. Like everything else, He didn't care enough to keep those wayward worshippers out of Heaven, as Hell had not been overrun by the dead followers of Roman gods. Which was fine by Lucifer, frankly.

Maybe the prayers all went to Him anyway.

Most attendees wore nicer than average clothing and seemed recently bathed, which came as a relief. The smell of _human_ could be overwhelming at times on visits, but even that wasn't _brimstone. _

Or putrid decay and waste for that matter.

The rex sacrorum held a ram on a lead and a glinting knife in the other hand. The man's wife, in similar dress to her husband, walked among the people, speaking softly. She was very pretty, with soft dark brown curls pulled up and back. The young woman touched shoulders, passing through the temple with light steps and purpose.

Lucifer wove his way to her with a wide smile. "Greetings."

She smiled shyly, with dimples.

Perfect.

He gestured to the crowd, "it appears I have come on a special day."

She nodded, "the sacrifice will commence soon. Would you like to present an offering for your household?"

Lucifer's affected accent borrowed from the nobles he'd met so far. "I'm not familiar with this God. What does he preside over? Why two doors? Tell me what he means to you, lovely?"

She responded patiently, unflinching from his eyes and coming under his influence easily. "Janus is the God of doors and passageways, thus the open gates. As we are at war, the gates are open and will remain so until peacetime. We invoke him at beginnings and endings, also his domain - this is the beginning of the year, which we mark with a sacrifice."

He shuddered a little. He wasn't a fan of doors in general - he already liked this Janus on principle.

He allowed a suggestion to drop in his voice. "Your gates are always open then?"

She blushed and looked away, but didn't retreat. "The God watches coming and going. None escape his watch."

"Is he a wrathful God then? To be so aware of your _comings _and _goings_."

Her smile was small, but it was for him alone. "...no, but-"

He leaned in for the kill. "A little voyeurism never hurt anyone."

She laughed loudly and covered her mouth with her hand quickly. Across the building, her husband tensed but didn't move from his position, he couldn't. His grip on the lead of the animal may have tightened a bit. The woman regained her composure. "Perhaps you would unburden yourself of your offering in a more private setting?"

An hour or so later, Lucifer strode briskly out of the temple, running a hand through his curly hair and smiling.

Amenadiel glowered, waiting outside the doors of the temple. It hadn't taken him long, after all, to track down Lucifer and notice the rex's wife was neglecting her duties. "Really? Could you at least keep your diversions to _unwed _humans?"

He gave his brother a wicked grin. "Whatever for? How do you know if you have a solid partnership without testing it once in a while. She never asked my name, so she won't be shouting it with her husband later."

Amenadiel threw his hands up. "No more details. And no more delay. Your time is up."

Lucifer growled, challenging, "Dad set a limit, did He?"

"There's no point in dragging this out."

"Have places to be? Other than the Silver City? No, you don't, do you?"

"Luci…"

"Have some _fun_ with me before you go back. You might enjoy not looking like you've been sucking on crabapples all of eternity."

Amenadiel gave a stony glare, as he had no verbal response.

Lucifer pushed it. "The games start soon. We'll be missing the beginning of the year celebrations! Don't you want to see the Coliseum?"

"Don't you get enough blood sport in Hell?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. The events aren't just bloodthirsty gladiators going at each other. Though I enjoy watching the men fight, and it's not always to the death. Hmm. They do glisten in the sun nicely too."

"Luci!"

"Living, breathing flesh is much more appealing than what waits for me." _Back home, _he didn't say. _It wasn't really anyway - home._

Amenadiel groaned. "We could try not making me force you."

Lucifer ground his teeth, speaking from his throat lowly. "We could. But, I do so _love_ consistency." He stopped and braced himself in the middle of the busy street.

Amenadiel took a few more steps and turned to look at him patiently, disdainfully. "I have all the time in the world. I'll just wait until nightfall if you want to stand there."

"Then we wait." Lucifer turned his back on Amenadiel, daring his brother to loose his silver wings and fly him back to Hell in front of all these people who would talk about it for days but probably chalk it up to two of their Gods fighting in the street. Amenadiel usually had a stick up his butt about revealing divinity, however.

Lucifer remained where he was, watching people flow past him and the sun creep lower and lower, unmoving, as unshifting as the ground they stood on.

Finally, night fell. Lucifer looked up at the sky. What he _really_ wanted was to see his stars, but The sky was overcast, probably Dad's doing, to deny him this one wish. Amenadiel's hand gripped his shoulder and Lucifer closed his eyes tightly.

It wouldn't do for the demons to catch him blinking back tears upon his return.


	3. Ji - 226 BC

Ji, 226 b.c.

Lucifer's - and anyone else's for that matter - first real experience with pitted battle and bloodshed was his rebellion. His first blood drawn in anger overwhelmed him. The reaction of his brother in disbelief and his rebellion was over almost before it began. It turned out he didn't have the stomach for it, but the realization came far too late and the damage had been done.

As it turned out, there was no such thing as a bloodless rebellion, though none had died that day.

His second experience with one was during one of his visits to post-neolithic Earth and turned out vastly different.

The first few thousand years did not interest him. At all. Hell seemed better than spending time spying on small tribes of roaming _humans_, fighting the ravaging cold and inclimate weather as an ice age retreated.

In those early days, few souls arrived in Hell. It seemed hugely disproportionate, so he finally broke down and openly remarked to his oldest brother that Heaven must be misery, swamped with miserable, unwashed, rough humans.

Amenadiel looked at him like he was crazy and informed him that at least for the first ten thousand years of _humanity_, nearly everyone was simply reincarnated. Not a significant percentage even made it to adulthood, and simply shunting barely functional souls to either location made no sense. It was Azrael who came up with it almost immediately, and it worked nicely.

The humans weren't organized well enough to even have societies, much less much of a system of morality, and at least half the Host was certain they wouldn't even make it out of the wilderness.

Somehow they did.

In the early days, except for Adam and Eve - when they were new and exciting, he ignored them. The Eden fell, he fell, and other thing occupied his time. When they began building and collecting into real cities, he became curious.

He didn't bother hiding his wings, _usually_. The first trip to Rome was an eye-opener, and he furled them away before he even got inside the city, what with commoners _commonly_ assuming he was a god.

He towered above the general population of the city of Ji, hundreds or thousands of kilometers away from Rome. A child grabbed his folded wing with dirty fingers, and he reflexively jerked them into hiding. He wasn't overly fond of the appendages, but freeing them to the wind outside of Hell at least felt good. It appeared he wouldn't be able to do it this time unless he got outside the city.

People around him gasped but otherwise didn't seem overly alarmed. The child, however, started screaming shrilly until an older human picked it up and scurried away.

This place was not as nice as Rome, but it bore inspection. He couldn't figure out why different civilizations developed at different rates.

His hidden wings itched. A short flight before Amenadiel found him seemed like an

excellent idea.

He spared a moment to look around, note the language was different from a previous time and place he visited. The humans had spread far enough for evolution to work - these had developed features that reminded him of Remiel.

Odd.

The thought disquieted him, reminding him he hadn't seen any of siblings other than Amenadiel in a very long time. Aside from the ones who fell below with him, of course, but they resented his company as much as he resented theirs. When he fell, he was the only one who remained angelic. The rest could no longer be called such. They became some of his first demons, though not even the most powerful of them. Maze came later, after Lilith's own fall.

He found a clear area and took off again, away from the smells and clamor of the unwashed.

Up on a hillside outside the city, he had a clear view that made him pause before launching himself up in the air again.

A serpentine dragon, who reminded him of Maze's paternal side, rested, coiled up in a hollow. She blinked a lazy eye up at him and greeted him in the language of what became that of the Lilim.

Draconic was one of the first creature languages, and it suited the demons.

He responded in kind with a careful smile. Dragons were impulsive and dangerous.

They were otherworldly and capable of harming mortals and immortals alike. He wasn't exactly _worried,_ of course, since a dragon had never killed a Celestial - that he knew of - but it didn't hurt to be wary.

Her long body twisted and curled around her single young child, protectively. She looked a little thin.

Lucifer cocked his head. "How fare you, mother dragon?"

She shook her great head, and he saw how tired her red-gold eyes were. "Not well, King. My mate is gone and I will be overrun soon."

Now that he looked, her scales lacked luster and did not shine in the sun. "By what?"

"See for yourself." She flicked long, broken whiskers up over her narrow shoulders.

Further up the hill, he looked over.

More humans, indistinguishable from the ones in the city, at least to his eyes, rallied around ragged flags and banners and lay limply in the still air. The men on foot had spears and not much else, but they looked determined. They marched raggedly, out of time or formation toward the city at a fast clip, and would run right over the dragon if they continued.

He unfurled his wings and squared himself up for a short flight when Amenadiel appeared and grabbed his arm, "what are you doing back on earth so soon, Luci?"

"Stop calling me that. I need to tell those humans to change direction."

"Why?"

"They're about to run straight into a nesting dragon!"

"It doesn't matter, you aren't allowed to interfere with them."

"She's going to die, Amenadiel."

His older brother looked at him with infuriating pity. He said, "I'm sorry." in a flat tone that was both resigned and resolute.

"You aren't sorry at all." Lucifer pulled away, or tried to. "Let go!"

Amenadiel held him firmly.

"Let me at least-" Do what? The child would die without his mother, that young. They could very well be family of Maze's father.

Amenadiel scoffed. "Those are creatures, Luci, It's time to go."

"Wait." _I want to know what my failure means. I want to know why those humans look...hostile. Why their expressions matched those when facing down his own family during the rebellion._

He found out.

The dragon, whose name he didn't even get, died screaming after a short fight. They stabbed her and her child with their spears and she only killed a few of them in return. They paused to collect the little remains left behind, claws and teeth that fell out of her bloody bones and skin.

He wanted to break free, he wanted to slaughter these humans for what they'd done.

He would have if Amenadiel didn't hold him back.

And then it got even worse.

The invading army, if it could be called that, went into the city, killing and overrunning meager defenses until the city of Ji surrendered.

Amenadiel watched impassively as blood ran in the streets. It was far bloodier a battle than his own rebellion. No one had even _died_ then, though wounds were sustained. He'd had no desire to kill any of his family; he just wanted to prove he was _right._

Lucifer snarled at the carnage. "Why?"

It wasn't the first time he'd seen dead bodies, but watching them die and kill because of their own selfish desire to take the city seemed...pointless. A waste. He watched souls arrive in Hell in singles and groups but never looked much into the cause of their deaths.

"This isn't the first time this has happened. It won't be the last. Human centers of power don't stay with one lord or another for long. Not unless they work harder to set defenses."

At least half the humans in the city were dead or dying. The victors began to enjoy their spoils - capturing unwilling, crying women and claiming property for themselves.

He broke free this time with a fierce pull. Amenadiel slowed time, flashing in front of him with spread silver wings, blocking him. Lucifer charged him, eager for a fight.

He could _do_ something, what was wrong with that?

Amenadiel sighed, spread his arms, and grasped his body. Instead of wrestling, he just flew Lucifer back to Hell.


	4. The Library

642 AD - The library

The gutted and ruined building still stood, but it was just so much blackened husk without a roof. He saw the dying flames from a mile away and hoped he was wrong. The library had recovered from other attacks and other fires, but this time, not so much.

He'd waited until it was dark, sneaking past sentries easily. While he learned the draw of his glamour hooked mortals within shouting distance, he could also make them ignore him, if he concentrated on deflecting their attention away from himself.

He didn't bother changing out his clothing this time, wearing black robes of Hell. Those usually drew eyes, as black was a difficult hue to bring out in any fabric. Tonight, they worked perfectly.

He came up when the souls arrived in Hell, fresh from the blaze that started as arson and burned for over a day, allowing him plenty of time to flit topside and bear witness to the dying embers and ashen deaths of people and priceless artifacts alike.

Over the years, since finding the Library of Alexandria, he found he could skip up, grab something and skip back before Amenadiel noticed, or perhaps, cared. His personal protected library in Hell started to become packed with human art, books and the occasional gold chalice lifted from a church sanctuary.

Those thefts were absolutely his fault.

This disaster was not.

The souls arriving in Hell, and no doubt any of the ones arriving in Heaven at the same time, blamed _him_ for this. It's the Devil's fire, they were saying, the invaders brought _him_ to wreak destruction and misery, to rape and pillage and destroy.

The dead invaders, naturally, believed they were doing Dad's work in the destruction.

Both attackers and defenders alike arrived side by side in Hell. Presumably Heaven too. Under normal circumstances, Luci took particular glee in lining them all up together at the gates - usually, but not always, in equal numbers. Today was not one of those days to stop and smell the roses.

On earth, Lucifer looked up and howled at the sky, startling everyone within range, which mostly was the Arabic invaders. He screamed in their language, spreading his wings and bringing fire to his eyes, "_I _DID NOT DO THIS."

People around him fled in the dark, in pissing-themselves levels of terror. Horses broke their ties, rearing and racing off into the black night.

Amenadiel appeared immediately, his wings shining in the darkness, softly, but the most visible things anywhere for miles. "Luci? What did you _do?"_

Lucifer's stars glittered overhead, weeping with him, he imagined.

"I? Nothing. What, you don't _believe_ those dearly departed, do you? I had _nothing _to do with this. This place was-"

Luckily Amenadiel missed his cut off sentence. "You had _nothing_ to do with this? Not some sort of act of spite for humans accumulating knowledge, for proving themselves they can grow and learn, become better?"

"BETTER? That's what you call this? There were scripts in there older than any _human_ alive."

Amenadiel caught his breath. "You...cared?"

"Not for the humans, of course." Fine. There were a few things he could admit to. "This place provided me a few hours of relief from time to time."

He looked back at his brother, thoughtful. "I sensed you coming to earth briefly and leaving again. It was here?"

Lucifer gritted his teeth and didn't respond. "This isn't fair. Why do they even bother trying?"

"It's in their nature. They'll rebuild. They're finite creatures, Luci, they're not like us."

"What if they don't?"

"Dad made them to want to build. To keep trying."

"Did He? Did He make them to be monsters too?"

"Of course not. Dad has a plan."

"I'm tired of hearing about this _plan_ that no one seems to know the details of. I'm tired of being blamed when it goes awry."

"It's not for us to know the whole picture, Luci."

"Especially not me. And if you tell me to have faith, I'm going to kick you in the balls. Actually, I might do that anyway if you're here to bring me back."

"And what will you do if I don't bring you back?"

Lucifer thought about it. "I have some souls in Hell to torture over this. As much as I'm looking forward to that, they can wait a few days, tormenting themselves in the meantime."

"And in the meantime, what?"

Without warning, Lucifer launched himself into the sky, headed no real direction. The invading humans had all scattered and just maybe this time he could fly fast enough or far enough from Amenadiel to get a little breathing space. From the sky, it all vanished into blackness, the ruins of the library vanishing into the rest of the dark and cold landscape. Below him was nothing but blackness and above him, nothing but stars and a new moon.

It has been a long time since he'd flown like this, at night. His starlight caressed his wings, lovingly, singing to him in the songs of their fire. His throat clenched. He had no friends, save them, and they were far away. But he could see them tonight, and they remembered him, they thought of him.

The cold night air cut into his wings, his face, his stinging eyes, seeking a target for his anger. He took it out on the only one available. He stopped in mid-flight, fluffing and spreading his wings fully open to expose cutting edges and waited for Amenadiel to get within range. He knew better than to allow an opening and he had no other weapon but his wings.

He would not go quietly back to that place of despair.

Angelic blood rained on the ground below from flashes of light and the crashing of bodies. Amenadiel was older, but he was also slower and didn't really expect his brother to hurt him. Lucifer, deep down, didn't really want to. But he was angry.

Red eyes and white and grey wings glowed in the dark sky.

The brothers slashed at each other, Amenadiel getting more frustrated and Lucifer bleeding raw anger and blood in equal amounts.

Lucifer folded his wings and dove, narrowing his profile and trying to make himself harder to be seen. Amenadiel was able to follow his burning eyes and intercept him, clasping his wrists and dragging him below.


	5. En Route to Naples 1496

En Route to Naples 1496 -

Lucifer tried something different and it worked beautifully, at least in the beginning. He hitched a ride on a ship bound to Naples, back from 'the new world,' brimming with cargo, people, and unfortunately for the humans anyway, disease and pests.

He had popped into the port, somewhere on the southeast coast of North America, folded his wings away as quickly as possible and clambered onto the next ship that was due to depart. He had gold coins in hand that bought him a private bunk. The ship wasn't precisely fitted to take passengers, but the captain made space for him easily enough. With a bit of luck, his brother wouldn't guess that Lucifer voluntarily took a spot on a sailing vessel rather than fly directly to wherever.

He was right.

Amenadiel would be pulling his hair out, if he had any, searching for Lucifer back at port. He didn't know exactly how his brother found him all the other times, but he figured it had something to do with some combination of where he apparated into and use of his angelic powers. The amount of time Amy took to find him varied, but he had no idea if it coincided with the time flow variance between the afterlife realms and the flesh-and-bone ones, or some other calculation was involved. He kept his head down and put a lid on his aura, working out a decent bargain for passage even without turning his powers on.

Once. Lucifer tried going to another planet, just to test his range. Amenadiel, when he showed up, was utterly baffled, but it didn't seem to take him any longer to track him down on the scorching airless orb orbiting a red giant. It was worth the attempt, even if it burned one of his 'vacations.'

One quiet, late evening, he sat perched on the back of the ship, letting the ocean air blow through his wings as he faced into the wind, toward the ocean. The cool air cupped into his feathers, puffing them like the sails above and behind him.

He had to find a way to stay here. A way to build a sanctuary he could retreat to where Amenadiel wouldn't find him. Or if he did find him, a way to bargain for more time, or simply find a way to get his family off his back. Some sort of loophole had to be found here on earth, as there were none to be had in Heaven or Hell.

Perhaps there was no better outcome for him, after the rebellion.

It didn't mean he wasn't going to keep fighting back. There was no appeasing his Father. No middle ground. No road back to what used to be home. There may not even be a direct path from Heaven to Hell, as no one had come to visit him.

He would say he couldn't blame them, but that would be a lie. Maybe just some of them. But no visitors? Even Amenadiel never stayed longer than it took to slam the gates of Hell in his face.

Well, if he wanted to try to live here, in at least short term spurts, he better start talking to them and not just finding distracting entertainment. He would have to start with a safe place on earth to begin a stockpile of resources. He had more than a few places he could visit now, but ideally, he had to find a location no one would care to look too closely at. He could simply make a cave in the icy wastes of the south pole, but his siblings would certainly go snooping if he wandered someplace so utterly barren.

He looked up at his stars, his frame rocking slowly with the waves and good weather. There was something about the ocean he couldn't help but love. There were no sirens, but there existed a pull to the sea he didn't deny. The salty wind cleared his head and lulled him into a sense of comfortable solitude he hadn't felt since flinging himself into the vast, profound nothing between floating masses and gravity to ignite his stars. In the dark night, he couldn't even make out the crests on the waves, but the clean, crisp smell of ocean proved it was there, along with the slap of water against the wooden ship.

Nothing was ever _clean_ in Hell.

The fact that humans set sail out of sight of land at all remained a mystery to him.

At least the sailors themselves thus far had made for a nice distraction, this visit. Unfortunately the Captain was the only one worth conversing with, but he'd been a lot of places and it made for a good way to pass the evenings.

They were a little prickly about religion here and now, and Lucifer had to fudge his name as far as he could be comfortable with, without lying. He wanted to find out where and when humans picked up his name, and how long ago. The first captain he tried to buy passage with immediately crossed himself, cursed and yelled until Lucifer retreated after introducing himself. It took a couple more before he figured out it was his name specifically they reacted to.

It put his trip off to a sour start. It left a trail for Amenadiel to follow as well, but that couldn't be helped.

In the full two weeks of sailing - longer than any other trip he'd taken thus far - he'd enjoyed the company of nearly every attractive man on the ship. Which, there weren't all that many of. But the captain had a very lovely wine cask in his cabin and was a talkative fellow. Tonight, Lucifer just wanted to enjoy the sky, and peace and quiet while he debated on flying the rest of the way to Naples.

Over the ever-present murmur of the wind and waves, he began to hear...singing, from the bow end of the ship. A mortal man wouldn't have. On instinct, he tuned into it, tapping into his abilities he had been trying hard not to use.

It was rough, drunkenly out of tune, and accompanied by a stringed instrument that had seen better days. Literally and figuratively.

It was strangely glorious.

He folded his wings away, relishing the last seconds of clean salt air as it sliced through his feathers with cutting cleanness and salt. He turned in place to see the light from the front, people around it, singing and sharing pipes and rum. The lantern was carefully shuttered, kept from accidents happening on the deck while providing low light.

He crept closer, well aware he was not a member of the crew and may not be welcome outside of secret places and closed doors. A man on duty, keeping watch, spotted him and waved him to join his carousing mates.

Someone else passed him a drink in a wooden mug as the men sang. He drank - he'd had better but wouldn't refuse the hospitality. He sat and just listened to their rough rendition, words known by heart and felt just as deeply. Another man pressed a wad of fragrant tobacco into his fingers and he nearly refused it. Spitting was disgusting, but the smell of the dry leaves always sent his senses tingling. And no one ever noticed if he didn't spit. He didn't need to.

He found a place to crouch, just listening first.

It was hard and sloppy at the same time, and none of the dozen men sang on key. But the shared warmth made up for most of the lack of precision. It was nothing like Heaven. He loved it.

One, the best vocalist of them, broke out into a song he didn't know. He sang without an instrument. While he'd never make the cut for the heavenly choir, he sang with more feeling than Lucifer had ever heard back in the Silver City.

_Love winged my hopes and taught me how to fly  
Far from base earth, but not to mount too high;  
For true pleasure  
Lives in measure,  
Which if men forsake,  
Blinded they into folly run and grief for pleasure take.  
But my vain hopes, proud of their new-taught flight,  
Enamoured sought to woo the sun's fair light,  
Whose rich brightness  
Moved their lightness  
To aspire so high  
That all scorched and consumed with fire now drown'd in woe they lie.  
And none but Love their woeful hap did rue,  
For Love did know that their desires were true;  
Though Fate frownèd,  
And now drownèd  
They in sorrow dwell,  
It was the purest light of heaven for whose fair love they fell._

It tugged at him, distracting, until another, more rousing song kicked up, one with a part he could join in. So, he sang too, picking up the repetitive structure quickly, belting out the chorus lyrics with the group while one led the rest.

He hadn't sung, himself, since...well, it had been a while.

Someone clasped his shoulder in a friendly grip, and it startled him into missing a word in the chorus but no one noticed.

They were just happy he was here too, tonight.

He didn't make it to Naples.

The journey by sea became unbearably dull after the novelty wore off. The men got short with him and his impudence, and more than a few fell sick and began to get superstitious of him when he didn't get sick. At all. Almost everyone on board contracted syphilis while in the new world, but it was unlike anything they were used to. It had mutated, though they didn't know the severity just yet.

In the end, he just flew away, Devil-faced and angel-winged before they threw him overboard. Or thought about trying to. He considered slinking off in the night but he was too pissed off to let their unfair rumbling slide.

He scared the bejesus out of them by doing it in full daylight. So at least he got some entertainment out of their collective self-crossings and gasps. The first mate fainted dead away, collapsing to the hard deck bonelessly. Lucifer blew him a kiss, just to throw oil on the fire.

He did vaguely hope they didn't choose another scapegoat, but this was no longer his problem.

He flew for a few miles over the open water, soaking up the sun and headed due east, just to further fuck with the ship's crew headed the same direction.

He blinked into the stinging wind, wings beating harder than necessary, incensed and not really feeling the need to not be.

The exertion felt _good._

Amenadiel had said over and over that mortals and Celestials do not mix.

Lucifer was not ready to give ground on any subject of contention between them, but maybe there was some truth to it. There had to be some middle ground here.

He blinked again, teleporting this time from high in the sky to flat ground, far away. He didn't really know where, going on instinct and ending up somewhere near where the Garden once stood, he thought, on a drab, grassy plain.

_Now there were some memories._

Wherever he was, it was nightfall here. The moon hung just over distant treetops, half-full.

He thought about going up there, to the moon, but his gaze dropped and his brother was _there_ in a fluttering of silver.

Glowering.

"Nice trick, Luci. You've overstayed your trip, and for what? If you were mortal, you'd be covered in parasites. Is that how you really want to spend your time?"

"Hell doesn't even have fleas, you know. Not a living creature to be found, unless you count the hounds. Everything there is touched by death and ash, even the things that look like the living."

"I don't get this obsession of yours. Dad made them, and even He rarely pays them any mind."

"I'm willing to bet that Dad's alternative view doesn't include torture chambers. Doesn't make a difference to Him, or you though. Why not stay for tea when you bully me back? Oh, right, there isn't any. Perhaps you would like to pop down and borrow a cup of sulfur sometime?"

"Where you are now is of your own making. Do you expect Father to forgive you?"

"Heaven was never my home, that's obvious to me now. I wouldn't ask for forgiveness even if I thought He might actually listen. Or if I wanted it in the first place."

Amenadiel looked at him sadly. Lucifer hated him for it. "Then what do you want?"

"For someone else to run this miserable place for a few hundred years. Is that too much to ask?"

"If Dad sends you a relief, you'll know it then and not before. Even if He did, you still have to go back. You do a good job running Hell-"

"So that's my real eternity? Along with all the wretches you send me?"

"Dad doesn't sort them, you know. Have you ever asked one of them how they ended up there?"

He hadn't, actually. He assumed Dad was responsible for who went where and didn't want to hear that the last thing a soul witnessed was Dad's judgmental face. He wouldn't necessarily rectify that oversight by talking to anyone in Hell, at least not right away, but it was something to chew on over the next stretch.

Lucifer sighed and let his stance go lax. "Get on with it then."

Amenadiel raised his palm outward. "You'll go without a fight this time?"

Lucifer looked up at the sky strewn with points of light. "Not on your life. I look forward to getting a few kicks in at least."

"Luci…"

He looked away. "I'm sure there's an unpleasant metaphor in there somewhere."

Amenadiel's face fell, genuinely hurt. "If that's how you choose to see it, I won't be able to change your mind."

He blinked back burning in his eyes, and not from his Devil face trying to come forth. "Let's get this over with." His lip curled in a wicked grin. "Do be gentle with me, brother, I've already had a fair number of men on my back recently. I'm afraid I won't be any fun for you."

The faint lines of disgust appeared in Amenadiel's face, as expected. "That's uncalled for."

"Is it?"

"Do you think I _enjoy_ doing this? Tracking you down?"

"I think you hide it well. I think anyone who was leaning my way during the rebellion is keeping their pristine noses clean now and you don't have anyone else to beat up these days."

"If you would just return willingly…"

"Never. Come on then, throw me inside the gates of Hell and make me crawl back to the pits. Remind everyone there that even the King is lower than the angels."

His face stilled, giving up, again. "You're going back one way or another."

Sweeping forward in the dark, framing his body in threat and warning, his wings splayed, sharp edges reflecting the moonlight. "Then make me."


End file.
